Malignant and benign cancers Flashcards
What is the most common primary tumour in the head and neck?
Squamous cell carcinoma
What is the clinical presentation of oral cancer?
O ral ulceration R ed or whit patches A bnormal swellings L oss of tongue mobility C auliflower like growths A bnormal localised tooth mobility N on healing tooth sockets C olour changes in mucosa (brown/blue) E rosions in mucosa R educed or altered sensation
What type of biopsy for a suspected oral cancer?
Incisional biopsy
How do you carry out a fine needle aspiration cytology?
Green needle with syringe leaving 1ml of air in syringe
Needle in lump - negative pressure suction to get cellular content into needs
Take needle off, put air in syringe, needle back on, squirt aspirate on slide
What are the objectives of cancer surgery?
- Excise entire neoplastic lesion
- Promote rapid healing and rapid restoration of function
- Remove margin of adjacent normal tissue in anticipation of microscopic spread
- Remove potential channel of metastasis e.g. lymphatics, nerves (usually neck dissections)
In oral cancer classification, what are the tumours classified as?
T1 <2cm
T2 <4cm
T3 >4cm
T4 - infiltrating deep structures
In oral cancer classification, what are the nodes classified as?
N1 - mobile nodes <3cm, ipsilateral
N2 - mobile nodes 3-6cm, contra or bilateral
N3 - fixed nodes >6cm
In oral cancer classification, what is metastasis classified as?
M1 - distant metastasis present
What is the oral cancer staging for:
a) Stage I
b) Stage II
c) Stage III
d) Stage IV
a) T1 N0 M0
b) T2 N0 M0
c) T3 N0 M0 or T1/T2/T3 N1 M0
d) T4 or any T with N2/3 M0 or any T with any N and M1
What are the benefits of laser excision of SCC?
Heals with less scarring
Heals by secondary intention - granulates from base and re-epithelialize
Coagulates as you remove tissue so less bleeding
Can be more accurate
What is the procedure for a free flap surgery?
1) Pedicule flap: bilateral naso-labial flap
2) Blood supply from naso-labial artery so knife not put through lower part - leave attached at base
3) Hole through cheek going into mouth so can fold tissue and stitch into place
4) Few months later starts to epithelialise
5) Sectioning of pedicule when its aquired its own blood supply
If the cancer is large, what type of surgery may be required?
Free tissue transfer
Where is the most common place to get tissue from when free tissue transfer surgery is done?
Radial-forearm free flap (blood supply from radial artery)
When is radiotherapy indicated?
1) Indicated where pt unfit for surgery
2) Where surgery may produce significant deformity or functional morbidity
3) Out-pt procedure usually
4) Immediate and delayed morbidity e.g. osteoradionecrosis
What are the types of spread of malignancies?
Direct spread - local
Lymphatic spread - to lymph nodes
Haematogenous spread - usually distant
Transcoelomic spread - peritoneal cavity/pleural space
What are the risk factors for developing breast cancer?
Age :increases with age Individual or FH of breast cancer History of ovarian cancer Oestrogen exposure Atypical hyperplasia of the breast Lifestyle - obesity, alcohol, smoking Radiation to area Genetic predisposition Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS)
What mutation genetically predisposes a person to breast cancer?
Mutation to BRCA 1 or BRCA2 genes cause 2-3% all breast cancers - autosomal dominant
What are the types of breast cancer?
a) DCIS
b) LCIS
c) IDC
d) ILC
a) Ductal carcinoma in situ
b) Lobular carcinoma in situ
c) Invasive ductal carcinoma
d) Invasive lobular carcinoma
What is a key sign often seen in inflammatory breast cancer?
Peau d’orange (orange peel skin)
What are some benign causes of breast lumps?
Breast cysts
Fibroadenomas
Abscess
What are the symptoms of breast cancer?
New lumps or thickening in breast or underarn
Nipple tenderness, discharge or physical changes
Skin irritation or changes e.g. puckers, dimples, scaliness
Warm, red, swollen breasts, rash orange skin
Pain in breast
What are the treatment options for breast cancer?
Surgery - wide local excision, full mastectomy
Radiation therapy
Chemotherapy
Hormone therapy
What are the risk factors for developing lung cancer?
- Number of cigarettes smoked
- Age at which person started smoking
- How long a person has smoked (or smoked before quitting)
- Passive smoking
- Pollution, asbestos, occupational exposures
Persistent smokers die 10 years younger than non-smokers and 85% lung cancers occur in a smoker
What are the types of lung cancers?
Adenocarcinoma (30-40%) SCC (30%) Large cell (10%) Small cell (20%) Carcinoid lung cancer (1%) Mesothelioma (asbestos related)
What are the signs and symptoms of lung cancer?
Shortness of breath
New cough or cough that does not go away
Chest pain in 1/4 - dull aching and persistent
Coughing up blood (haemoptysis)
Repeated respiratory infections e.g. bronchitis or pneumonia
Wheezing or hoarseness
What does a PET scan show?
Metastases to bone
What is the prognosis of lung cancer?
5-7% 5 year survival
What is the most common type of prostate cancer? What are the other types?
Adenocarcinoma
Transitional cell, SCC, small cell
What are the risk factors for prostate cancer?
Age - most common 75-79 years Ethnicity - more common in black african men Family history Obesity Male
What are the signs and symptoms of prostate cancer?
Cause bladder outflow and irritability symptoms (just like benign prostatic hypertrophy: nocturnia, urgency, poor stream/dribbling, frequency of micturition
Haematuria (blood in urine)
Metastases to bone - commonly lower back pain
Why can prostate cancer easily spread to the vertebrae?
Venous plexus around vertebrae with the prostate directly related - no valves so spreads easily through bloodstream
What is prostate cancer staged with?
Gleason score : pathology based from a sample
What is the treatment of prostate cancer?
Early disease: Surgery, radiation and brachytherapy (localised radiation), cryotherapy, watchful waiting
Advanced disease: Hormone therapy, chemotherapy, pain management
What are the different types of kidney cancer?
Clear cell (75%) Papillary (15%) Chromophobe (5%) Transitional cell carcinoma Wilm's tumour - malignant nephroblastoma occurring in children
What are the risk factors for kidney cancer?
Male Obesity Hypertension Increasing age - most commonly 60-70 Smoking Dialysis (increased risk of developing cysts which increases risk of cancer) Family history Thyroid cancer Genetics - von hipple-lindau syndrome, tuberous sclerosis
What are the signs and symptoms of kidney cancer?
Pain - loin radiating to groin
Haematuria - blood in urine
Metastases - lung bone
What is the treatment for kidney cancer?
Watchful waiting
Surgery - nephrectomy, can be curative, used in up to stage 3
Cryotherapy - freeze cancer
Radiofrequency ablation
Immunotherapy
Chemotherapy (less commonly used)
Radiotherapy (less commonly used as less sensitive)
Why are bisphosphonates used for breast, lung, prostate, kidney cancers?
- Treatment of bone pain
- Breast cancer reduces risk of cancer spreading to bone
- Prevention of osteoporosis in pts taking hormone therapy
- Tx of hypercalcaemia
Why is radiotherapy used as a neoadjuvant or induction treatment?
Given before surgery to shrink the tumour
Why is radiotherapy used as an adjuvant treatment?
Given after surgery to destroy any residual tumour cells if worried its not fully cleared or margins very close to normal tissues
When would total body irradiation be indicated?
For bone marrow transplants
What do the Royal College of Radiologists estimate most cancers are cured by to the least?
49% by surgery
40% by radiation
11% by chemotherapy
However usually used in combination
In what part of the cell cycle does radiation do the greatest damage?
Mitosis
What is the basis of how radiation therapy works?
X-rays have high enough energy to displace electron from its path (ionisation) creating an unstable atom. The DNA is targeted, double strand breaks with a poor chancer of repair, leading to cell death and tumour necrosis
What does the unit of measurement Gray (Gy) mean in radiation?
Radiation-absorbed dose
Depositis 1 J/kg tissue of energy
What does the unit of measurement Sievert (Sv) mean in radiation?
Dose equivalent - equal to gray times a quality factor - takes into consideration the biological effectiveness of radiation
Deposits 1 J/Kg tissue of energy
What is somatic certainty in radiation? What is somatic non-deterministic effect?
A threshold for when effect will occur
Change it may occur e.g. malignancy
At what dose in Sv would a) radiation sickness and b) death occur (somatic certainity)?
a) 2-10 Sv (bitewing is 0.0002mSv)
b) >10 Sv
At what dose in Gy would the following occur?
a) death in a few hours from CNS damage
b) Death in 3-7 days from destruction of GIT mucosal lining causing diarrhoea and septicaemic shock?
c) Death in 2-3 weeks from bone marrow destruction
d) Damage to foetus in early pregnancy
a) >50 Gy
b) 5-10 Gy
c) 2-5 Gy
d) 0.2-1 Gy
What does is required to treat a tumour in Gy? How is this given to the patient?
Around 50Gy
Given in fractions over 4-6 weeks to allow normal tissues to recover
In radiation therapy, how is external radiation/ collateral damage to adjacent tissues minimised?
- Compress tissues with mask
- Collimation to focus beam of radiation
- Multi-field technique. coming at different angles so high dose to tumour and lower dose to surrounding tissues
In internal radiation therapy, what are the following used for?
a) 131 I
b) 32 P
c) 125 I
a) Carcinoma of thyroid - injected via arm or groin
b) Bone marrow radiation
c) Brachytherapy
What is internal radiation therapy and what are its advantages?
Brings the radiation as close as possible to the tumour e.g. brachytherapy seeds
- Specific radiation to tumour tissue
- Less collateral damage
- Higher doses possible
What are the general side effects of radiotherapy?
Tiredness
Nausea
Loss of hair at site of beam entry
Loss of appetite (weight loss)
Soreness of skin and erythema at site of beam enry
Risk of radiation induced malignancy (after several years)
Skin pigmentation
What are the oral side effects of radiotherapy?
Mucositis (inflamed mucosa)
Xerostomia
Ulceration
Candidiasis - clears out oral flora so more susceptiple
Radiation caries - on surfaces you dont expect, give fluoride supplements
Dental hypersensitivity
Periodontal disease
Loss of taste
Trismus - due to increased fibrous muscles, asymmetric mouth opening
Craniofacial defects if given during growth
Osteoradionecrosis
What is osteoradionecrosis? How is it avoided?
Complication due to irradiation endarteritis obliterans resulting in progressive poor blood supply and a diminishing ability to heal. Problem often occurs following dental extractions
Remove poor prognosis teeth before treatment and if XTNs necessary after DXT to jaws then specialist, antibiotics and hyperbaric oxygen
Where are metastases in jaws or oral soft tissues usually from?
Breast, lung, prostate
What are the facial/oral effects of tumour metabolites?
Facial flushing
Pigmentation
Amyloidosis
Oral erosions
How can you help relieve mucositis?
Benzadimine hypochlorise (Dyflan) - aqueous type better than alcohol as gives burning feeling
Frozen lidocaine lollipops or topical analgesics
Opiods
Avoid smoking, alcohol and spices
Good OH
Oral cooling with ice
How can you help manage patients whilst they are undergoing head and neck radiotherapy?
Discourage smoking and alcohol Saliva substitutes - olive oil around mucosa at night to prevent erosion Eliminate infections Relieve mucositis Physiotherapy for trismus
What are the oral complications of chemotherapy?
Infections Ulcers and mucositis Lip cracking Xerostomia and dehydration Delayed/abnormal development Gingival bleeding
How can you help manage patients after they have had head and neck radiotherapy?
OHI and prevention Fluoride Antibiotics for infections Specialists OMFS for XTNs Avoid mucosal trauma Saliva substitutes
How can you help manage patients whilst they are undergoing chemotherapy?
Systemic/topical folic acid to reduce ulcers
Ice cold water/sucking ice whilst on IV
CHX mouthwashes
Nystatin for candidiasis
Acyclovir for herpetic infection
Antibiotic for infections
Remember methotrexate interacts with NSAIDS/Aspirin
How can you help manage patients after they have had chemotherapy?
OHI and prevention
Risk of anaemia, bleeding and infection - pancytopenia all blood lines are decreased so must see recent FBC